HOLIDAY GREETINGS FROM DR. SABINE U. OHARA

Holiday Greetings from the Roanoke College campus! This special season of Christmas for us Christians, of Hanukkah for our Jewish friends, of the end of Ramadan that our Muslim neighbors celebrated just a few weeks ago is a season of gifts. It is a season of gift giving and gift receiving. This year, this season of gifts is particularly meaningful to me as I reflect on the gifts of Roanoke College. Some of the members of our community give us the gift of teaching, others provide assistance in untold ways, some contribute their gift of financial support and others their gift of hospitality. We simply could not be a college without these various gifts of the many individuals who make up the Roanoke College community past and present, here in Salem and around the country and even the world.

It took the gifts of our emeriti, retirees and alumni to lay the firm foundation on which we build today. It takes the gifts of our dining services, B&G, housekeeping, auxiliary service and business division staff to keep us all comfortable and operational. It takes the gifts of our resource development staff to help build critical support for our financial future. It takes the gifts of our admissions, financial aid and outreach staff to get the story about Roanoke College out and to bring the students we serve to our campus. It takes the gifts of our student affairs division staff to engage our students, to counsel them and keep them safe. It takes the gifts of our faculty and academic affairs staff to provide the very heart of what we are about as a college, namely the education of our students. And it takes the gifts our students bring to us to keep us accountable and innovative.

Yet there is more to gifts given and received. Gifts are not only what we bring as individuals. That alone is not enough, certainly not to be a college of outstanding accomplishments and distinction. We need the gift of community. That’s a curious thing about gifts. A community is far more than the sum of its individual parts. When we all bring our gifts in the service of Roanoke College the result is far greater, is unexpected, and wonderful.

And this season of gifts reminds us also of the larger gifts and blessings we receive so freely. The gifts of health and friendship, of laughter and insight, the gift of connectedness as part of a creation full of mystery and wisdom that keeps us academics moving and searching for meaning and truth. What awesome gifts!

So thank you for your gifts and for sharing them so freely as part of the Roanoke College community. Have a merry Christmas and a joyful Holiday Season.

Sincerely,

Sabine U. O'Hara